(MOBILE, Ala.) - In the wake of the Newtown school massacre, an Alabama state lawmaker and teacher is renewing the fight to allow school resource officers to carry handguns.
“[Newtown] is an eye-opener to the possibilities of what could happen on our school campuses if we don’t take measures to protect our children,” State Senator Rusty Glover of Semmes, who also happens to be a high school teacher, told Local 15.
Glover said he will re-introduce a local bill this coming year to arm Mobile County’s resource officers.
“The good guys need to be armed,” Glover said, “Having only the bad guys have guns puts the children in a dangerous situation.”
This past legislative session, Glover’s bill passed the state senate, but it died in the house.
“To give it a better chance of passing, it was a local bill and pertained only to Mobile County,” Glover said, “But it’s easy to kill a local bill because one member can hold the bill up.”
Glover said a couple of local state representatives opposed the bill and stalled it in the house.
“I think this tragedy shows the importance of this type of bill,” Glover said.
Glover said concerns over gun battles on school grounds are unrealistic.
“[School resource officers] are police trained,” Glover said. “The last thing they actually want to do is use their weapon.”
Glover believes an armed student or person on campus would be less likely to use a gun if they knew an armed officer was present, and would be more likely to relinquish their weapon.
